It was towards Ralf Rangnick that striker Christopher Baumgartner ran after he had scored the decisive second goal, creating the very realistic prospect that Austria will indeed progress from the Group of Death of this tournament. There was something quite appropriate about that.
Rangnick may have been shown the door at Manchester United and been considered something of a control freak there, but since leaving in the winter of 2022, he has brought his ‘gegenpressing’ game to this small football nation and has seen it take root.
“It’s brought a new stir in the country,” striker Nicolas Seiwald said in an interview with UEFA.com this week and that was certainly true last night, when the Austrians all but eliminated Poland, who have no points and the French still walked away . play.
That decisive goal came minutes after Poland’s final roll of the dice, launching Robert Lewandowski just before the hour mark. But the talisman was booked within minutes for throwing an elbow and Austria quickly headed in the other direction to win a match that was deadlocked and seemed destined to see two decent footballing nations eliminate each other.
Baumgartner, a willing exponent of high-intensity, fast-start play, who scored after six seconds against Slovakia in February, dealt the decisive first blow. He ran with his socks down and fired a shot past Wojciech Szczesny, who dived in the opposite direction despite having a ball in sight that was not deflected. A shot sold by Marko Arnoutovic, who let the ball from the left get in Baumgartner’s path, was decisive.
Marko Arnautovic (pictured) helped his team seal a 3-1 victory against Poland on Friday night.
The former Stoke striker scored a penalty late in the second half to seal his team’s victory.
Gernot Trauner (pictured) put Austria ahead in the first ten minutes with a header.
The score was settled 12 minutes later: Arnautovic sent a penalty to Szczesny’s right after Jan Bednarek irresponsibly missed a long clearance and allowed Marcel Sabitzer to get ahead of him to run towards goal, leading to the goalkeeper bringing him down. .
It was the sweetest experience for Austria, the dark horse of the tournament, which is undefeated in 15 of its last 17 international matches, with two defeats including France in its first Euro 2024 match here, but which ended with the French and Dutch in its cluster.
With both teams facing tough third games (Poland taking on France next and Austria taking on the Netherlands), a win and points on the board were imperative here. The team that lost would almost certainly return home.
Rangnick was the coach who taught Jurgen Klopp what effective pressing really looks like when his newly promoted Hoffenheim defeated current Liverpool manager’s Dortmund 4-1 in September 2008. “We need to get to where they are now,” said a devastated Klopp in the consequences of that hammering. ‘Unfortunately, tactical behavior is not like riding a bicycle. You have to practice over and over again. Austrian players already know everything.
With Poland falling to the bottom of Group D, Robert Lewandowski’s team (centre) are now on the verge of being eliminated from the tournament.
They start with a lot of energy these days (even their kick-off routine was organized so that they ran towards the Polish defense) and once again they scored early because of it.
After a precise half-volley cross from Phillip Mwene, who was exceptional in the first half hour, Gernot Trauner jumped to avoid an unopposed header with his head. The defense and goalkeeper could have done better, but the shot was beautiful.
Poland, enjoying a large volume of support, began to look torn at the back and there was a chill when Lewandowski, still on the bench in what for all the world looks like his last international tournament, rose from his seat. He was simply going up to the bench to talk to someone else.
The question was whether Austria could maintain that momentum in the heat of a muggy Berlin afternoon and the Poles began to sound them out. They tied when a shot from Southampton’s Bedanek hit defender Phillip Lienhart and Krzysztok Piatek (on the old grass here, as a former Hertha player Belin) pounced impressively, taking control with the first touch and burying it, with his right foot , with the second.
For a time, the Austrians were dismissive of the opportunities that were being created. Baumgartner squared away when the goal opened on the counterattack just before the break. Bedanek did well to block Sabitzer. But finally the breakthrough came.
The Poles had no way back and Austria was able to score the fourth when Konrad Laimer evaded the goalkeeper and shot wide. This is an achievement for a country of nine million people – the population of London – compared to a nation of 38 million. They will probably be third classified for the knockout phases. A team that none of the larger nations will enjoy.
More to continue…
